Turns of AXT-042, third thread

[cbn]

Among much fanfare the Free Drones heralded the new century (although purists continue to argue that the new century begins in 2201). At celebrations at Free Drone Central, Foreman cbn saluted the other factions for their committment to peace.

[NorthSwordsman]

Turn 2200 to the Gaians.

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Planet Cult Offical Press Release:

We are heartened by the actions of the the Free Drone faction in taking a step towards a more environment-friendly stance. We applaud the Foreman's foresight and wisdom, and condemn those who have not had the same attributes toward Planet.

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Personal Log, First Advisor:

As we enter into the last year of our first century upon this wonderful Planet, I contemplate the damage we have caused by our actions. I am amazed that Planet has not responded in a more violent fashion that it has to date. The Prophet insists that our given role is that of defender of Planet. I concur. The only question is, when and where?

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Planet Cult Offical Military Press Release:

Major Harkness, the commander of the 1st Worm Battalion stationed at the FreeDrone-Cult border, was found guilty in a military tribunal this morning of deleriction of duty in connection with an attemped border crossing of several men and women on their way to a local "watering hole". Harkness was stripped of his rank, given an dishonorable discharge, and assigned as a tender of fungus on the north continent.

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Planet Cult Offical Military Press Release:

6 men and women of the 1st Worm Battalion on duty at the Drone-Cult border were apprehended attempting to cross the border enroute to a local recreation center. As stipulated in Military Order #FA8320-21b, they were duly executed after a brief trial.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2200 to Walt.
_______

Public Proclamation
Druid Tenchusatsu, First Advisor to Lady Deirdre

We hereby announce our Pact of Brotherhood with Walt of the Morganites. Not only has Walt demonstrated great concern for Planet's well-being with his development of the first Tree Farm, but he has also offered to help us upgrade all of our Network Nodes to avoid the Y2.2K bug.
_______

E-mail to Foreman CBN of the Drones
Druid Tenchusatsu, First Advisor to Lady Deirdre

I apologize for responding to your e-mail in such an untimely fashion. I must admit that my schedule is quite full, but I still place top priority on maintaining healthy relations with you. Please do not take this as a sign to the contrary.

I am quite pleased that you have instituted major environmental programs as of late. Certainly your industrial capacity is the envy of Planet, but as we all know, the hidden costs of such production is pollution and environmental destruction. And in the long run, this no doubt hurts us all as visitors on a possibly sentient Planet. Of course, we Gaians want to be a shining example to the rest of Planet, demonstrating that humans and Planetlife alike can not only exist together, but also work together for the mutual benefit of all. Your recent attention to Planet's environment warms my heart, and I'm sure it will also warm Lady Deirdre's as well.

However, I do not know why you find the need to warn us against violence. Certainly you know about Lady Deirdre's long-standing policy against war. In fact, we recently brokered a peace agreement between the warlike Spartans and the erratic Peacekeepers, despite Commissioner Lal's previous demands for us to join them in war. And by the way, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but Lal also demanded that we join him in his quixotic Vendetta against you. We refused, of course. Later we broke our Pact with the PKs, mainly because I suspected Lal merely wanted to use us to fund his "peacekeeping" (hah!) military operations. My fear is that they may extort energy from us and threaten us with war. I hope and pray that they don't, but if they do, we will do everything necessary to bring a swift end to such a war and minimize the casualties.

I must admit, however, that there is a small but vocal group of radical citizens within our nation who are calling for direct action against Planet's polluters. They are advocating eco-terrorism, mind control, even outright war to harass and destroy those who they believe are enemies of Planet. Now personally, I do not share their views, because the end does not justify the means. In fact, eco-terrorism is perhaps the most hypocritical act of any Gaian, and if any of our citizens engage in such heinous crimes, I will personally hunt them down and bring them to justice.

Finally, you are right that our empaths have been greatly distressed recently over the state of Planet's ecology. I do not pretend to have any telepathic abilities; I am an administrator at heart, and my title as "Druid" is only a formality. Therefore, I cannot begin to understand the mysterious xeno-psychology of the mindworms. That is Lady Deirdre's area of expertise, not mine. Yet she has been rather busy herself as of late, consulting the senior empaths, taking long trips into the Planet psyche (sometimes for many days at a time, emerging ematiated and malnourished), and withdrawing to her private gardens often. I do not know what is troubling her, but because she has left me with the bulk of her normal responsibilities, I have not found the time to ask.

In conclusion, I hope this e-mail allays any concerns you may have regarding our hopes and intentions. Let's schedule a face-to-face meeting via vid-comm in the near future. I wish to hear how your nation of Free Drones are doing these days.

[cbn]

Honored first advisor

I welcome and appreciate your kind words. We hope,with your technical assistence we may join you in a greater understanding of Planet. I would like to raise 4 points that I would like to address:

1. Are you willing to freely share ecological technology since it is your stated purpose to assist Planet so?

2. Are you willing to designate parkland in your territory (NO DEVELOPMENT WHATSOEVER) as we have done ?

3. The use of the word "warn" in your public response to a private communication sounds more ominous than anything I said. I am well aware of your long-standing reputation for peace but had heard troubling rumours that the ecological devastation caused by some on Planet was a real concern to you and you might find yourself forced to act in a military fashion. I merely offered the notion that military action would likely cause more ecodamage than any damage you were trying to prevent.

4. Lastly, our production methods are the LEAST environmentally destructive on Planet. WE have instituted production efficiencies and programs of recycling and reuse that mean that ANYTHING we build requires less minerals or energy than the same item constructed by any faction, including you. Simply put, we use less resources to accomplish the same goals. Any look at our empire will confirm that we have forested heavily and are now relying heavily on the tidal harness for energy. A tidal harness has no negative ecological effects and is a clean source of renewable energy that depletes NO natural resources. Our government has made its share of errors in the past but our environmental policy and practice is as far-reaching and forward thinking as that of ANY other faction on Planet.

[NorthSwordsman]

turn to tench.

[Tenchusatsu]

E-mail to Foreman CBN of the Drones
Druid Tenchusatsu, First Advisor to Lady Deirdre

Thank you for your quick and civilized response. Unlike before, I will respond to your correspondence in a more timely manner, starting with this one.

To address your questions one-by-one:

1) I'm afraid I cannot divulge top-secret information, even technologies that improve the environment. Some of our senior advisors are worried that should an unscrupulous leader obtain such technologies, they would use it as a license to increase industrial production and return to their former levels of pollution.

2) I am pleased to hear of your declaration of North Island Planet park. However, I don't believe in arbitrarily claiming a patch of virgin territory far off the coast of my mainland and declaring it a "park" just for the sake of token environmentalism. Instead, real environmentalism involves sacrifices and major changes in lifestyles. This differs sharply from the so-called "environmentalism" of the early 21st century. Back then, scores of citizens claimed to be environmentalists, but drove ancient Rovers called "Sport Utility Vehicles" which needlessly wasted fossil fuels of the time. Then when the prices of those fuels skyrocketed due to overconsumption, they quickly abandoned their environmental beliefs and demanded increased fossil fuel drilling. You know the terrible wars and destruction which followed just for the competition of such limited resources. We must never make that same mistake again on Planet as humans have made on Earth.

We believe that our system of Green economics is the best way to take care of Planet's ecosystem. We lose the economical benefits of a Free Market, and we lose the growth and industrial benefits of a Planned economy. In fact, living conditions in a Green economy are necessarily harsh and growth boundaries are so restrictive that population growth takes a substantial hit. But in exchange, we naturally improve our empathy with Planet and make environmentalism a core character value of every citizen. The side benefit is an increase in economic efficiency due to the integrity of all of our citizens as well as their dedication to the Green cause.

I must admit that we are not slavishly dedicated to this Green system. In fact, we occassionally switch to a Planned economy so that we can micromanage the expansion of our growth boundaries and allow for Population Booms. But we make sure to switch back to a Green economy once we decide that the growth boundaries cannot extend any further. I have heard that your nation is strongly opposed to a Green economy just as Lady Deirdre is opposed to a Free Market. I have to wonder why you are so opposed to this system. Does it run contrary to your egalitarian ideals, or is there something else I'm missing?

3) I understand your concerns and wish to apologize for overly alarming you with the word "warn." By the way, I was not aware that our correspondence was being made public. My impression was that our e-mails were being sent securely and privately. Perhaps some news agency feels it is important to breach this privacy in the shameless pursuit for a story? Maybe it's the work of the elusive Datajack Sinder Roze. Or maybe it's due to one of our engineers who spends way too much time playing video games on our Network Nodes. Maybe he hacks into our e-mails and publish them on open forums just because he is bored. I can't imagine why.

4) I am impressed that your nation is able to produce everything at a significantly lower cost of materials than any other nation. It speaks wonders of the efficiency at which your factories run, and our industrial engineers can definitely learn a thing or two from your foremen. Also, I am also pleased to hear about your extensive use of tidal generators and forests. Like us, you are demonstrating ways to benefit from Planet's resources without hurting the enviornment in the process. Yet as I mentioned before, true environmentalism isn't measured by the efficiency of your factories, but by the core values of the heart. Any efficiently run factory can still cough up smoke and dump waste. But it is up to each and every citizen in your nation to take up the cause for Planet. I see you have already taken many steps toward this cause, and I hope to see more. I'm sure Lady Deirdre would feel the same way once I inform her of your new environmental initiatives.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2201 to Walt.
_______

Transcript of Security Camera Footage
Hallway just outside of Lady Deirdre's private quarters

(Druid Tenchusatsu walks up to the door of Deirdre's quarters)

T: Lady Deirdre, it's me. Are you there?

(silence)

T: We need to talk. This is the time and day you told me you'd be available. Are you there?

(silence)

T: (speaking into his wrist computer) Computer, locate Lady Deirdre.

C: (in a melodious, synthesized male voice) "Lady Deirdre is in her quarters."

T: Activate infrared bioscan and see if she's alive and OK.

C: (after a few seconds) Lady Deirdre's lifesigns are normal, however her pulse is slightly weak and her breathing patterns are slow.

T: Great, she's done it again. Activate security lock override, authorization "Tenchusatsu Rho-Alpha-Iota." Summon the medics and empaths to her quarters.

(Doors slide open to Lady Deirdre's quarters. The only light shining into the room is coming from the only bright object in the "night" sky, Hercules, a.k.a. Alpha Centauri B. The dim orange light goes through the huge curved glass wall and illuminates the room. In the center, Lady Deirdre lies unconcious, wearing nothing but her meditation gown, a silk yellow-green translucent wisp of an outfit. The Druid walks over, wakes Deirdre up, and slings her arm over his shoulders.)

T: Come on, Lady Deirdre, get up now. Time to head to the doctor's office again. (mockingly) You've got to learn to come back before dinnertime, young lady! I know playing psionic mind games with Planet is fun, but a growing lady like yourself could get hurt!

D: (slowly regaining conciousness, in a whisper) Druid ... I ... need to go back. I ... need to ... know more ... learn more. Don't worry about me, Planet won't let me go. I promise.

T: Yeah, well, that's exactly what I'm worried about, so you're going to the medical unit no matter what. We can talk later.
_______

Boy, I never thought I'd get THIS carried away with our role-playing. Maybe I should start frequenting the AC Fan Fiction threads.

[NorthSwordsman]

Tench, I agree! I have to admit, "roleplaying" this whole thing certainly adds a great deal of zest and interest for me. I find myself looking forward to the next turn and seeing what everyone posts! This is FUN!

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Personal Log, Fungus Tender Harkness:

After being demoted and sent off to this forsaken patch of fungus on the north continent, I find myself angry. Tending fungus isn't all that easy, especially when a spore launcher pops up outta nowhere and says "HI". I'm angry because of the unfairness of the whole situation. It isn't my fault those fungus lice wanted to cross the blasted border on their way to that idiotic bar called "Rosie's". I thought the Drones closed it down. Apparently they are still doing business unoffically. At least they died for trying to get a drink. Doesn't make me feel any better. Northswordsman is not a very forgiving or understanding fellah. Beats me what that kid Cha'Dawn sees in him as an advisor. Heck, a hatchling worm could do better. Then again, isn't that what Cheese Dong is? There must be a way to get rid of that advisor and supplant him. Then we can take our rightful place as the rulers of this planet.

[cbn]

Personal Log-- Huxley Soma-- Intelligence chief of the Free Drones


Sometimes I think the foreman is just too trusting of the other factions--- but I have no clear evidence that they wil be anything other than peaceful. Its just a feeling but these things are starting to pile up. The Gaians are making all kinds of noises about taking action to protect Planet and recent reports tell me there are two IODs in the vicinity of my coasts. While the first advisor seems trustworthy there are concerns about the attitude of Lady Deidre. Also both the Gaians and Morganites have expressed concern about the size of our empire. Then they pact. It might be just for trade but it could be a military pact as well. I'll have to get the computer division to run their scenarios if attacked by both. each is formidable alone . . . .

I really don't understand the foreman sometime. We could build a strong military so that we could be safe against military action. But NOOOO the smarty pants foreman decides its better to appease the Gaians with a whole bunch of environmental initiatives. Now with the recent pacting of two factions he had the gall to tell me I "worry too much". Heck thats what they pay me to do and I better stay alert since the foreman seems oblivious to any possible dangers out there
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Cabinet memo to the Foreman from Finance Minister Paul Martin jr.


As requested I have compiled the estimates and budget requests from the various departments along with our recommended allocation. We have a projected revenure of 1.1 billion Dronars


DEPT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Request . . . . . . . . Allocation

Administration . . . . . . .275 M . . . . . . . . . . 260M
Public works. . . . . . . . 250 M . . . . . . . . . . . 250M
Intelligence . . . . . . . . . .150 M . . . . . . . . . . . 25M
Military . . . . . . . . . . . . .800 M . . . . . . . . . . . .150 M
Environment . . . . . . . . 400 M . . . . . . . . . . . . 400M
Parks and Lands. . . . . . . 40 M . . . . . . . . . . . 40M

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.915 Billion . . . . . . . 1.125 Billion


In accordance with your policy directive, Environment and Parks were provided full funding as was Public works to allow for needed infrastructure. Funding of the intelligence and military services has been cut drastically thereby making any new programs untenable for them.
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Internal Military memo -- Identities classified

Recent budget cuts will cripple our military's ability to defend itself. The politicians are obviously also trying to pressure us into abandoning project Omega. Thankfully, the military is entirely free to allocate its budget as it sees fit.

To maintain the Omega project you are directed to

1. Close the Rover plant at Staples of Life
2. Close the military museum at Free Drone Central
3. Close the training bases at Whipsaw Base and Freedom Foundary

The politicians should know better than to slash our budget like this. Don't they know that the military understands the political process as well

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One week later

Channel 10 news

Finance Minister Martin today announced special funding to allow 4 major military installations to remain open. The government had come under fire earlier this week when it was announced that budgetary cutbacks would result in the closure . . . . .

These closures would have resulted in hundreds of lost jobs in the economically depressed region Of East Dronesland. Local MSA's pledged that they would continue to fight for funding for the bases into the future as the military bases constitute the only major industry in those communities.

[Walt]

2201 to cbn.
______

Morgan Industries (AP): In a startling report, the Vice President of Census, Yen Ching Sternmeyer, today announced that the Morganites are losing waking population, and are having to supplement the population of their existing bases with newly-wakened cryogenically frozen colonists. When asked why Morganites are emigrating to the burgeoning bases of the Drones and Gaians, Sternmeyer expressed no opinion.

Morgan News, however, interviewed emigrees at the Morgan Industries trans-Planet docks.

One emigree, Harvey Hasselkopf, said simply, "It's boring here."

[cbn]

Turn 2101 to the Cult

[NorthSwordsman]

2202 to Gaians.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2202 to Walt.
_______

From: Department of the Interior, Head Administrator
To: Druid Tenchusatsu

Congratulations, my friend. We are now the most populous nation on all of Planet. I must say, your "Family First" program is really paying off. Increasing the child tax credit, prioritizing construction of Children's Creches even in our most remote colonies, improving our tourism industry, and meticulously expanding out our urban growth boundaries have all contributed to this success.

Unfortunately, I am concerned about the ... er ... how shall I put it ... You see, some people are taking this "Pop Boom" thing a little too seriously, and they're using it as an excuse to ... uh ... sow their oats all around the field, if you catch my drift. I understand that promoting fatherhood is a key part of your program, but I think they might be taking the theme a little too far. Even today, I watched a variety show on the vidscreen, and they were holding a contest they call the "Breeder's Cup," where couples race to be the first ones to have a child.

I know I shouldn't worry about this, that the citizens could use a little recreation now and then. But we've had to build more hospitals and train more doctors than ever before in order to deal with the births, the psychotherapy, and all the other headaches of overpopulation. Plus we are able to produce a bumper crop every year thanks to our Tree Farms and Lady Deirdre's "secret recipe" of 11 fungal herbs and spices, but how long do you think the food will last?

I know you're rather busy these days, so I won't waste any more of your time. Just get back to me whenever. Thanks, and I'll talk to you later.

[NorthSwordsman]

Cult Military Intelligence Memo #8923498572
classification: Ultra Secret
To: Ultra List receiptents

Recently, we obtained through clandestine means a copy of the proposed Free Drone budget for the next fiscal year, thanks to their press. We conclude that the budget as published hides much of their military agenda and spending within non-published "slush fund" items. All senior commanders and leaders are cautioned to continue to be on alert.

General Millings,
Chief of Intelligence

============================================

[NorthSwordsman]

Hearing between a sergeant and 2 troopers, Cult/Free Drone border:

Sgt. Robinson: Ok, Parsimmons, what happened?

Parsimmons: Suvako here insulted Raymie, my pet worm, sir.

Sgt Robinson: That's still no reason to be fighting. Suvako, what's your version of this whole thing?

Suvako: Well, Jack came up with that worm draped on his shoulder like so (demonstrates), strutting around like he was some kinda bigshot 'cuz he got a worm yesterday, and the rest of us don't. Then he tole' me to go get him a drink or he would sic his worm on me. I told him his worm was a (mumble, unintelligible), and he took a swing at me. Missed too. I popped him one and decked him. That's about it, sir.

Sgt. Robinson: What did you call the worm?

Suvako: A Free Drone slut, sir.

Sgt. Robinson (wincing): Suvako, you just... (sighing).... calling mindworms names is not going to endear you to anyone in command. Parsimmons, what kinda damage did you take? Was the worm hurt?

Parsimmons: Just a couple a' teeth knocked out, no big deal, they was rotten anyways. The worm hit the dirt, but gave Suvy a little bit of a blast.

Sgt. Robinson: Suvako deserved that, I think. Apparently it wasn't too bad of a Psi blast if you are still talking and walking. Suvako, how are you feeling?

Suvako: Headache. I'll live. Sir.

Sgt. Robinson: Suvako, go see the medics for treatment. You're on KP duty for a week. See Corporal Burns for your duties. Parsimmons, cool your mouth off. If you get in another fight because of this, you'll lose that worm... what did you call him?

Parsimmons: Raymie, sir.

Sgt. Robinson: Right. Odd name for a worm.

Parsimmons: Dunno. Just like the name. Reminds me of my brother back on Earth.